"Now look, I'm not a real president, but..."
Posted on 09/26/2009 5:57:56 PM PDT by BuckeyeTexan
AMERICA may break its promise to shut its military prison in Guantanamo Bay by January, officials have admitted.
White House insiders warned that their self-imposed deadline was slipping as they struggled to work their way through thorny legal and logistical questions.
US President Barack Obama is said to remain committed to closing the facility, a camp for international terror suspects at an American base on Cuba opened by his predecessor George W. Bush after the attacks of 11 September 2001.
Officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said on Friday that they still hoped to meet the January deadline by stepping up their efforts.
Guantanamo, which has become a lightening rod for anti-US criticism across the globe, holds some 225 detainees, including some suspected of having links to al-Qaeda, as well as Taleban and foreign fighters captured in Afghanistan and elsewhere.
Obama promised soon after taking office – and many times since – to close the prison, arguing that doing so is crucial to restoring America's image in the world and to creating a more effective anti-terror approach.
But eight months after the president's pledge and with only four months to go before the January deadline, a number of difficult issues remain unresolved.
They include establishment of a new set of rules for military trials, finding a location for a new prison to house detainees and finding host countries for those who can be released.
This has prompted top Republicans in Congress to demand that the prison stay open for now, saying it is too dangerous to rush the closure. Even Democrats defied the president, saying they needed more information about Obama's plan before supporting it.
After the president's promise, administration officials and lawyers began reviewing the files on each detainee.
At issue: which prisoners can be tried, and whether to do so in military or civilian courts; which can be released to other nations; and – the hardest question – which are too dangerous or have cases too compromised by lack of evidence that they must be held indefinitely.
A major complaint surfaced immediately – that the Bush administration had not established a consolidated repository of intelligence and evidence on each prisoner. It took longer than expected to build such a database, the officials said, because information was scattered throughout agencies and was inconsistent.
That database has now been completed, and prosecutors have also concluded their initial review of the detainees and recommended to the US Justice Department an unspecified number who appear eligible for prosecution. The Justice Department and the Pentagon will now work together to determine which prisoners should be tried in military courts and which in civilian ones, the officials said. They would not provide a number recommended for prosecution since this could change.
Obama's officials have pledged they will not "voluntarily release" any detainee inside the United States. But this does not address what might happen if any of the detainees who are tried are found innocent – a matter of considerable angst about Obama's plans, both in Congress and among the public. However, the US could – and probably would – seek to transfer those people to other countries in that case, as none is a US citizen.
“America” is not breaking its promise. Obama is breaking “his” promise.
The arrogant, foolish Child in Chief owns this one completely.
Nah....terrorism is just a “crime problem’..so the POH-leece should be able to handle it...even racists cops like the one Bambi invited for beer!
Yeah, why not just invite the Club Gitmo boys for beer at the WH..THAT should do it.
I thought it was supposed to be done by the end of the year. The Liar told the UN that it was already “Mission Accomplished!”.
Zer0 be acting stupidly again.
Hussein is making us look like Nazis, Just like George Bush. S/off
Exactly.
“America” is not breaking its promise. Obama is breaking “his” promise.
And exactly.
Funny, we always knew that, Bush and Cheney always knew that, anyone with half a sentient brain knew that, but your average Obama voter didn't know that, is only dimly snapping to it, and isn't going to admit it in any case.
Obama aligns himself, I think, with those people not so much because he agrees with them but rather because they are so easily manipulated. You've got to admit it, they are easy. Tell them what they want to hear and they will follow you right off the cliff smiling all the way.
What??? But Europe may hate us again and stage mass protests!
Just release the poor Gitmo 'innocents' and give 'em jobs as Czars. I mean, that's the goal, isn't it?
Thus spake the Dear Liar, Lord 0bama.
Thnk you for posting that. What utter arrogance.
I don’t think he ever intended to keep his word.
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